Dreaming of a wedding with a difference, a youth rides a helicopter instead of a horse to get to the house of his bride-to-be and happily shells out Rs 4 lakh for the 15-km trip, reports Atul Mathur.

There are two things that still pull people out of their houses in villages — a baraat and planes flying across the village sky. And it becomes double whammy when the two combine. There was a huge crowd gathered in the lanes and bylanes of Sihani village when the baraat procession of Vipin Singh Tyagi proceeded towards the fields of Morti. Dressed in traditional wedding attire, Vipin felt like a king.

The crowd followed him to an awaiting helicopter. A four-seater private helicopter was ready to take off with the groom to the bride’s place in Kumhera village. This was the first time in Ghaziabad a groom hired a helicopter to go to the bride’s place and nobody wanted to miss the sight.

“We have barricaded the entire area to keep people away from helicopter,” said Bir Singh Tyagi, the groom’s brother. Not only the villagers, but people from the urban areas also came to witness the unique baraat. “I came here to see whether it was really true that a farmer had hired a helicopter,” said a state government official.